A developer in a battle with Edgewater over a prime piece of land that the borough wants to take through eminent domain has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the town is in cahoots with another developer.

The 50-page civil rights complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Newark by 615 River Road Partners seeks to end the eminent domain proceeding and afford them equal treatment in reviewing their proposal, spokesman Thomas Ammarito said.

"It is my client's strong belief that they are being treated unfairly and the aim of the suit is simply to get fair treatment by the borough officials for their application,"he said.

Edgewater officials said the legal complaint "reeks of blackmail and extortion."

Mayor Michael McPartland, in a prepared statement distributed by the borough attorney, said 615 River Road Partners brought the legal complaint to the borough's lawyers a month ago and demanded a meeting with borough officials or else they would file the lawsuit.

"This complaint is yet another ... effort to force their development down the throats of the people of Edgewater," McPartland said. "Nearly everyone I meet in town asks us to keep fighting this application and we will continue to do so."

The company bought the 19-acre, Hudson Riverfront property that was formerly a Hess terminal in April 2014 for $26 million. It proposed constructing five buildings ranging from 18 to 25 stories that would contain 1,498 market-rate housing units and 375 affordable housing units.

It would add about 3,000 people to the town, which had a population of about 12,000 in 2016.

But 615 River Road says in the complaint that the relocation of the DPW facility -- and several other moves by the borough-- are "designed to favor Fred A. Daibes, a competing major local real estate developer, who has functional control over real estate development in Edgewater through extensive, and often improper, relationships with Edgewater municipal officials."

615 River Road Partners asserts in its legal filing that Daibes tried unsuccessfully to buy the Hess property and told Hess representatives that if they didn't sell the land to him he would ensure it would never be built on.

They allege that Daibes directly threatened them, saying they "should have come to me in the beginning. I own and built this town. Now it will be condemned; I am your neighbor on all sides."

Daibes Enterprises, a real estate development and management company with a history of turning former industrial sites into high-rises, has developed The Alexander, Saint Moritz and Mariners Landing in Edgewater.

"There's no substance to any of it," Fred Daibes said. "By badmouthing me, they think they can get the town to work with them. It's ridiculous."

Daibes said he did not bid on the 19-acre Hess site because it's zoned for office or research.

"I only develop residential projects," he said. "These people are trying to impose something on the the town that the town doesn't want."

McPartland also said 615 River Road Partners has failed to appear at three scheduled Zoning Board of Adjustment meetings.